[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 172 (Wednesday, December 12, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13042-S13043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INCENTIVES TO TRAVEL
Mr. KYL. Madam President, three months ago, we experienced an
unprovoked attack on our country. America took a terrible hit, but we
have rebounded and we have reminded the world of the strength of the
American people.
Three months ago, one industry in particular was stricken, and it
continues to struggle to regain its footing. When our government shut
down our airlines and our airports, it also shut down our travel and
tourism industry.
Under the headline, ``Travel Downtown Spreads More Woes,'' the
December 11 Wall Street Journal reminded us that the industry remains
in dire straits. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in
the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 1)
Mr. KYL. The article focuses on the neighborhood around Los Angeles
Airport, but it describes a scene all too familiar to many of us:
Today, planes are once again buzzing just 300 feet above
the head of the people of Lennox. But something even scarier
has befallen them. The meltdown in the travel and tourism
business has claimed thousands of their jobs.
Working together, the government and industry leaders can help the
industry recover. By now, my colleagues no doubt have seen the
television advertisements sponsored by the Travel Industry Association
of America. Featuring President Bush, this privately supported
advertising campaign encourages Americans to travel, to see our great
country again, and to enjoy our many blessings. Now that the industry
has stepped forward, it is time for us to do our part.
The time has come to enact a personal travel credit to get Americans
on the road and in the air again. I am pleased that travel-credit
legislation has broad, bipartisan support. Now is the time to translate
that support into action. With the slowest travel months of the year
about to begin, let's give the American public an incentive to travel.
Let's get a credit enacted quickly. Let's bring families together and
let's get Americans enjoying the blessings of our country again. In
short, let's get America traveling again.
Exhibit 1
[From the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2001]
Travel Downturn Spreads More Woes
(By Eduardo Porter)
Lennox, Calif.--Something strange washed over this area
following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11: quiet.
With planes grounded across the U.S., residents of this
crowded community abutting Los Angeles airport weren't
assaulted by the sound of jet engines for the first time in
anybody's memory. The sudden silence was so at odds with the
usual deafening roar that ``kids were scared'' by it, says
Maria Van Deventer, assistant principal at Jefferson
Elementary School.
Today, planes are once again buzzing just 300 feet above
the heads of the people of Lennox. But something even scarier
has befallen them. The meltdown in the travel and tourism
business has claimed thousands of their jobs.
As much as any place in America, this 1.3-square-mile
unincorporated area of Los Angeles County has been the victim
of post-Sept. 11 economic fallout. Because this is
practically a company town, with many of its 23,000 residents
employed at the third busiest airport in the world and
related businesses, Lennox has become a ground zero of sorts
for the devastated travel and tourism industry.
The impact of the near collapse in the industry has left a
broad footprint. Airline industry revenue should decline 30%
in the fourth quarter over the year-earlier period, estimates
Kevin C. Murphy of Morgan Stanley, and PKF Consulting
estimates that room revenue at hotels in major urban centers
will be down 17.5%. Other travel-dependent firms, from
airline caterers to airport concession owners, have also been
hit hard.
There is no precise count of how many Lennox residents, who
are overwhelmingly
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immigrants from Mexico and Central America, have been laid
off in the past 2\1/2\ months. But job losses--more than
8,000 at the airport alone and thousands more at area shops,
hotels and other companies that depend on travel--have shot
through the community. Isabel Gurdian lost her job cleaning
planes on Sept. 12. A few weeks later Gladys Barraza was laid
off as a cashier at the airport's City Deli, Margarita
Uriostegui, who washed dishes at airline caterer Dobbs
International Services, was let go, too. Alfonso Martinez, a
barman at the New Otani hotel, got lucky. His workweek--and
income--were cut by only two-thirds.
The impact has rippled through Lennox's dusty streets.
Sales are down about 30% at Daisy's Party Supply on Inglewood
Ave., Where a pinata of Osama bin Laden dangles from the roof
between a huge can of Modelo beer and Winnie the Pooh. And
they're off about a fifth at El Taco Macho, just across the
border in Hawthorne, even though $9 American flags have been
added to an eclectic menu of tacos and seafood cocktails.
Business also has plummeted at Noemy's Beauty Salon, which
doubles as remittance outlet that wires money from local
residents back to relatives in Latin America. On a recent
Friday, shop owner Margot Noemy Canizales waited all morning
for customers to show. None did.
The pain is felt as far away as Jiquilpan, in central
Mexico, which has dispatched workers to Lennox for decades.
``The whole town depends on money sent from here,'' says
Martin Orejel, a Lennox resident who has had his work hours
slashed as a bartender and bus-boy at a Ramada hotel not far
from the airport. ``Now,'' he jokes, ``we need them to send
money here.''
At the second floor offices of local 814 of the Hotel and
Restaurant Employees International Union, the newly laid off
lined up to register for unemployment benefits. But many
Lennox residents are illegal immigrants and can't get such
financial assistance. Downstairs, union volunteers handed out
bags of food. Life in Lennox is pretty difficult to begin
with. With an average of nearly five people per household, it
is one of the most densely populated communities in
California. More than 94% of the students in the local school
district are in a program that provides free or reduced-cost
lunches to poor children, one of the highest rates in the
state.
Hispanic immigrants began coming here in the late 1960's,
sucked into the U.S. to help sate the explosive demand for
low-wage service workers. Now, hit by the first wave of
layoffs in a decade, ``it seems like the end of the world,''
laments Ms. Uriostegui, a mother of three whose husband is
still hanging on to a job at a tortilla shop. Most days she
hits the road looking for work, leaving applications
everywhere from a factory for stamping T-shirts to a plant
making refrigerator parts.
To cope, some people are resorting to uncomfortable
measures. After losing her job, Gladys Barraza, her husband
and two children moved into her parent's two-bedroom home,
also in Lennox. Rosa Saldivar is facing starker options. Her
husband, Martin, who lost his job at a bakery that served
airport restaurants, is pressuring her to take their three
kids back to the family home in Durango, in northern Mexico.
They wouldn't be the only ones to go. Ms. Van Deventer, the
assistant principal, says that 50 to 60 children, out of a
student body of about 1,100, have dropped out of Jefferson
Elementary since Sept. 11. Some, she says, have gone back to
Mexico and El Salvador, where it's cheaper to be unemployed
and where extended families can provide support. Others have
left to look for work in other American cities, including Las
Vegas, where it is rumored there might be jobs.
For those who are staying, the stress is growing. Health
workers and parent-group coordinators at the schools are
detecting more alcohol abuse and depression. A few days ago,
Carmen Torres, a parent counselor at Jefferson Elementary,
saw a couple bickering. The wife was dragging in her recently
laid-off husband to register for English-language lessons.
The husband, crying in despair, complained that the classes
were beyond him.
But many are confident that the community will prove its
resilience. Yvonne Moreno, a counselor at a health program
run by the school district, notes that most of those in
Lennox have been working since they were six or seven years
old. Many crossed the desert on foot, eluding border
patrolmen, to get here. ``They are survivors,'' she says.
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